The District of Sechelt suspended its Blue Bin recycling program after its contractor, Direct Disposal, dumped “six or seven truckloads” of recyclables at the district’s public works yard on July 4, Mayor Bruce Milne said during a press conference last Friday.
The temporary suspension came after months of unsuccessful contract negotiations between the district and Direct Disposal, whose one-year contract for processing recyclables lapsed March 1, 2015.
Milne said Direct Disposal had notified the district through its lawyer on June 28 that it would no longer process packaging and printed paper (PPP) recyclables.
“What they [said] was that if the contract wasn’t concluded and they would no longer sort it, they would simply dump the recycling – and in fact, that’s what they did,” Milne said. “So on Monday, the collection day, they collected recycling throughout Davis Bay and they turned it into garbage. Six or seven truckloads went onto the public works yard and were dumped, which is obviously not the response we like to see in contract differences.”
He added: “This is obviously the response of somebody who is quite frustrated. It’s not a mature response, and it’s one that caused a lot of difficulty for our public works staff that afternoon.”
A spokesperson for Direct Disposal declined to comment on the matter.
“We feel it would be inappropriate and disrespectful to try to litigate through the press,” the spokesperson said.
Milne said he did not expect the dispute would affect garbage collection in the district, which is handled by Direct Disposal under a five-year contract. The contract for Blue Bin recycling collection was also of five years duration.
On July 6, two days after the dumping incident, the district gave Direct Disposal notice to cease the curbside pickup. Unable to find a viable alternative for processing the material, the district was forced to suspend the collection service.
The first residents to be affected were those in the “yellow” curbside recycling zone (downtown to West Sechelt and East Porpoise Bay to Tuwanek), who were scheduled for pickup on July 11. They were advised on the district website to not place their Blue Bins curbside, but instead to recycle the materials at the Salish Soils depot at 5646 Schetxwen (Black Bear) Road.
“Many residents already use the Salish Soils depot for recycling of household glass, Styrofoam and plastic film,” Milne said. “We trust that our community will continue to recycle responsibly and apologize for any inconvenience the temporary suspension in curbside collection may cause.”
In the meantime, Milne said, the district is looking for other recycling options.
“We know recycling is very important to the community on the Sunshine Coast at large and in Sechelt – Sechelt actually pioneered the Blue Bins on the Coast – and we know that it will be temporary because we’ll be working to ensure that it is.”
The processing contract was worth about $120,000 per year, Nikki Hoglund, Sechelt’s director of engineering and operations, said Friday.
Hoglund said the company responded to the district’s most recent proposal by sending the June 28 letter.
“We truly thought we were very, very close” to an agreement, she added. “It would appear that may not have been the case from the other side.”
The suspension does not affect the curbside organics collection program in Davis Bay, which is provided by a different contractor.
